Tag Archives: Easter

This activity teaches about the events leading up to the resurrection of Jesus. It doesn’t follow all the traditional stations of the Catholic version but rather focuses on the most important events for sharing the Easter story.

Scriptures

Matthew 26-28

Materials

One copy of each of the puzzles that represent the different Stations of the Cross. You can find this on the Lesson and Material Downloads page at www.teachingthem.com. The file is called, “Easter Stations of the Cross – Puzzles.ppt”

Scissors or cutting tool

12 Ziplock bags (sandwich size)

Preparation

Printout one copy of the puzzles.

Cut along the outlines of the puzzle pieces.

Put each set of puzzle pieces into a Ziplock bag.

Create the following “Stations” around the room by setting out the appropriate puzzle at each Station:

Jesus prays in the Garden of Gethsemane.

Jesus is betrayed by Judas and arrested.

Jesus is tried by the Sanhedrin.

Jesus is denied by Peter.

Jesus is judged by Pilate.

Jesus is scourged and crowned with thorns.

Jesus takes up his cross and is helped by Simon.

Jesus is crucified between two thieves.

Jesus promises the thief eternity in paradise.

Jesus dies on the cross, and the veil is torn in two.

Jesus’ is removed from the cross and buried.

Jesus rises from the dead.

Procedure

Use the following script (or modify to suit your needs):

“Some Christian traditions have a ritual called, Stations of the Cross.”

“The Stations are different places in a room, or on a road or in a building that you walk to and then stop to think about Jesus and how much He loves you.”

“The Stations each have a description, and they are usually about different events related to the Easter story.”

“Today, we’re going to go through some of the most important events (or Stations) and learn about what happened during that part of the story.” (Divide the group into twelve smaller groups, and assign each one to one of the Stations. If you have less than 12 people, you can assign multiple stations to each person. Have these groups or individuals go to different stations and put the puzzles together. They should then read the Scriptures on their puzzle and be ready to summarize that part of the story when the group reaches that Station. After all the puzzles are done, gather everyone back together, and go through the Stations in the order listed above. As you reach each station, allow everyone to look at the picture, and have the person or group who completed the puzzle summarize the story for the larger group. When you’ve finished all the stations, you can sing the Alleluia chorus or do a short wrap-up lecture on the importance of the resurrection.)

This game is a fun and high-energy way to celebrate the resurrection of Christ. It’s played in rounds, and an individual round takes only a few minutes to play.

Scriptures

Matthew 28:1-10

Materials

10-20 feet of rope

“Friday-Sunday” dice cube pattern (You can find this on the Lesson and Material Downloads page at www.teachthem.wordpress.com in the file named “Resurrection Roll – Dice Cube.”)

Tape

Glue

Scissors or knife to cut out dice cube

Cardboard or poster board (8.5 x 11 inches)

Optional: Small prizes for the winners – it’s possible to have multiple winners each round, so you will want to have lots of small prizes

Bible

Preparation

Print out the dice cube pattern.

Glue the pattern on top of the cardboard or poster board.

Cut out the dice cube pattern.

Bend the dice cube sides along the lines to form the cube. (It might be helpful to lightly score the cardboard along the dice cube lines to help it to bend. Make sure to score the cardboard side and not the paper side.)

Tape the dice cube anywhere the sides come together.

Lay out the rope in a large circle pattern.

Practice the script.

Procedure

Use the following script and instructions (or modify to suit your needs):

“Jesus died on the cross on a Friday, and His followers were crushed!”

“They believed He was the Savior, the Messiah, but now He was gone!”

“They couldn’t believe it! They didn’t know what to do.”

“They had put all their hopes in Jesus, and they didn’t know what to do with their lives now that He was dead.”

“Fortunately for them and for all of us, that wasn’t the end of the story!” (Have a volunteer read Matthew 28:1-10.)

“Imagine you were there!”

“One moment, life has no meaning – only mourning.”

“The next moment, all your hopes are restored – even upgraded!”

“What you thought was a terrible defeat turns into an incredible victory!”

“So, let’s play a game to celebrate that victory!” (Ask everyone to grab the rope and stand in a circle.)

“I have a die (singular for dice) here that has three sides that say, ‘Friday,’ and three sides that say, ‘Sunday.’”

“You are holding a rope that represents the tomb Jesus was buried in, and you represent Jesus.”

“Before I roll the die, you have to decide if you think it will land on ‘Friday’ or ‘Sunday’ and choose to either be in the tomb or out of the tomb.”

“If it lands on ‘Friday,’ you want to be in the tomb, where Jesus was after He died.”

“If it lands on ‘Sunday,’ you want to be outside the tomb, where Jesus was after He rose from the dead.”

“If you are in the wrong place, you are out of the game and have to leave the circle until we start a new round.”

“I will roll the die three times, and you can choose a different place (in or out) each time or stay where you are as long as you keep being right.”

“Whoever lasts all three rolls, wins!” (“….and gets a prize” if you are giving prizes)

“Are you ready to play?” (Start the game by having the kids choose a position inside or outside of the rope. Then roll the die. Any kids on the wrong side of the rope are out until the next round. After three rolls, acknowledge the winners and start a new round if you wish. End whenever you’ve had enough!)

30 minutes(15 minutes for decorating the eggs and 15 for telling the story)

Description

This object lesson tells the story of Joseph in an unusual way – with eggs.It helps the kids to learn about using puns while presenting a lesson about the reasons why bad things sometimes happen to good people.

Materials

·Sixteen eggs

·Pot for boiling eggs

·Food coloring, vinegar and several cups if you want the kids to dye the eggs (optional)

·Water

·Crayons or colored pencils for decorating the eggs

·Various props for decorating the eggs (optional)

·Table for the kids to decorate the eggs on and for teaching from

·Note cards (optional – you need these only if you plan to have the kids read out lines from the story.)

·Tall glass

Preparation

·Boil all the eggs, and then let them cool

·If you are going to have the kids dye the eggs, you will need to boil some water right before class.Put a teaspoon or two of vinegar into each of your cups.Then pour in the hot water, and add a few drops of food coloring to each cup.Make as many different colors as you like.

·Write the names of Joseph and his brothers (see below) on the bottom of 12 of the eggs.Two should be labeled, “Midianites.”The other two should be labeled “Jacob” and “Potiphar.”

·Set out Crayons, colored pencils and any props you gathered for decorating the eggs.

·(Optional) Write out or print out (see download file, “Joseph Over Easy – Script Cards” on the Lesson Material and Downloads page) the lines for the story on notecards. They are numbered below so that you will know what to put on each card.

·Practice the script.

Procedure

Use the following script (or modify to suit your needs):

“We’re going to tell the story of Joseph and his brothers with these boiled eggs, but first, we need to decorate them so that they look like their characters in the story.”(Read off the name on the bottom of each of the eggs, and select a volunteer from the kids to decorate the egg.You can give them some ideas about how you think each character might look.How well they decorate the egg is not important – just that they have fun doing it.Once the eggs are decorated, it’s time to tell the story.Each child can keep the egg he/she decorated.Have them stand up if their character’s name is mentioned.)

“We are about to tell the story of Joseph and his brothers using these eggs.I’ve included a lot of puns in the story to make it funnier.Does anyone know what a pun is?”(Listen to responses, and add your own explanation if necessary.)

“A pun is a humorous use of a word.Often, the word sounds like another word, but it has a different meaning.Sometimes, the word is the exact same word as the word you would typically use, but you intend for the listener to know that you really mean another meaning of the same word.Puns are a fun way to make a joke, but they require you to think fast to catch the double meaning.An example of a pun would be if I had a jar of peanuts and said, ‘There sure are a lot of nuts in here.’But instead of talking about the jar of peanuts, I was really talking about there being a lot of crazy people in the room.”

“So, we are going to use puns to tell this story.If you hear a pun (or any kind of joke), raise you hand to show that you got it.Okay, ready?Here we go…”

(Notecard #1) “We know a lot about Reuben, Simeon, Levi and Judah, and we know a lot about Joseph and Benjamin, but the rest were pretty quiet. I think they had difficulty coming out of their shells.”

(Notecard #2) “Now, Joseph was different than his brothers. He was eggs-tra-special, eggs-traordinary. You could say he was egg-cellent in every way.”

(Notecard #3) “Compared to his brothers, you might even say he was unequally yolked.”

(Notecard #4) “His father knew it, and he made it known that Joseph was his favorite, his good little egg.”

(Notecard #5) “Jacob loved Joseph so much more than the rest of his brothers that he dyed him a shell of many colors.”

(Notecard # 6) “Now, you may think that being daddy’s favorite was egg-ceptional, but it wasn’t all it was cracked up to be.”

(Notecard #7) “For one thing, Joseph’s brothers didn’t appreciate it at all, and they thought Joseph was just plain rotten.”

(Notecard #8) “For another, having his daddy crow about him all the time gave Joseph a bit of an egg-o.”

(Notecard #9) “You see, God had given Joseph the ability to interpret dreams. One day while he was ‘doze-n,’ he had a dream that his brothers bowed down and worshipped him.”

(Notecard #10) “When he told his brothers about the dream, it didn’t go over-easy with them.”

(Notecard #11) “They use to think Joseph was just eggcentric, but now they thought he was really egg-ravating.”